Tough Talk on Impeachment

A public opinion poll from the American Research Group recently reported
that more than four in ten Americans - 45% - favor impeachment hearings for
President Bush and more than half - 54% - favored impeachment for Vice
President Cheney.

Unhappiness about the war in Iraq isn't the only cause of the unsettled
feelings of the electorate. Recent events like President Bush's pardoning of
Scooter Libby, the refusal of Vice President Cheney's office to surrender
emails under subpoena to Congress and the President's prohibition of
testimony of former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers in front of the
House Judiciary Committee have caused unease over claims of "executive
privilege." In addition, many of the White House anti-terror initiatives and
procedures - from the status of "enemy combatants" in Guantanamo to
warrantless wiretapping - have come under legal scrutiny in Congress and the
courts.

Bill Moyers gets perspective on the role of impeachment in American
political life from Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, who wrote the first
article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and THE NATION's John
Nichols, author of THE
GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT.

Bruce Fein says: "The founding fathers expected an executive who tried to overreach and
expected the executive would be hampered and curtailed by the legislative
branch... They [Congress] have basically renounced - walked away from their
responsibility to oversee and check."

John Nichols says: "On January 20th, 2009, if George Bush and Dick Cheney are not appropriately
held to account this Administration will hand off a toolbox with more powers
than any President has ever had, more powers than the founders could have
imagined. And that box may be handed to Hillary Clinton or it may be handed
to Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or someone else. But whoever gets it, one of
the things we know about power is that people don't give away the tools."